A Reluctant Christmas JILY
by Dragongrrl7
Summary: prompt from tumblr user captainasexual: "you're kind of a scrooge and it's up to me to show you the true meaning of holiday spirit hallmark movie style au" Time frame: December 1979, just before Trelawney's prophecy is made and Lily and James truly go into hiding. Lily is newly pregnant and they are both Aurors, but on temporary leave. Pls review! Follow me for more like this :)


**prompt** from tumblr user captainasexual : "you're kind of a scrooge and it's up to me to show you the true meaning of holiday spirit hallmark movie style au"

**Time frame: **December 1979, just before Trelawney's prophecy is made and Lily and James truly go into hiding. Lily is newly pregnant and they are both Aurors, but on temporary leave.

Lily looked up from the box she was unpacking, a flimsy cardboard thing filled with the porcelain Nativity and pretty candles from her childhood. "James, I really don't understand why this is such a big deal."

"Christmas, Lily! You don't like Christmas?"

She paused, crinkling her forehead in the way that still made James feel giddy inside. "Well. I guess I used to. When I was very small."

"What changed?"

"I don't know. We never—my sister never believed in magic, and my parents thought it was all a bit silly. But they kept it up for me. Then Petunia made it clear she didn't care about any of it, and money got short…"

James frowned. "And you never had Christmas at Hogwarts, I know that much. I know there was that one break when I met your family." He shuddered.

"No, never at Hogwarts."

"So you don't know what a wizarding Christmas is like!" He grinned happily. "Guess I'll just have to show you. No child of mine will be raised in a Christmasless house!"

Lily finished unpacking the box and carefully set the items on the table. "Um, I don't think that'll be necessary."

"Oh, come on. It's our first Christmas together. I'll show you all the wonders you've never seen before."

She scoffed. "If you say so. There's even less Christmas magic now that I know how magic works, you know. Hours and hours of Transfiguration practice with McGonagall quite took all the mystical happiness out of magic for me."

"But that's not _Christmas _magic, Evans!"

"Ooh. Back to the 'Evans.' You do know it's 'Potter' now, right?" She grinned happily, still not used to the way it felt in her mouth.

"Yes, I know, but I'm exasperated with you, you see."

"Is that right?"

"Yes. Now let's do Christmas." James looked up at her with his best pleading face.

Lily groaned dramatically. "Fine. Four days until Christmas. You can have two of them to get me to love it."

"I'm gonna win this. You'll see." He stood thoughtfully for a moment. "First thing is the tree."

"Fair enough."

They Apparated to a beautiful stand of fir trees not too far from Godric's Hollow, and James tried to make Lily pick. She refused, and eventually James ended up picking the biggest, greenest fir he could find, floating it above them as they walked back into town. Just before they reached the town, James pulled Lily to him and kissed her.

She looked up at him, green eyes startled, and laughed quietly as she brushed pine needles out of his hair. "What was that for?"

"I just—I'm happy. It's nice to be on break from being grand Aurors, just for a few days, you know?"

She sighed. "I do. It's nice. But I can't help but worry we're not doing what we can, what we should be. The Order needs us."

"Honestly, I don't think Mad-Eye would've let us keep working anyway. He told me flat-out a few days before he informed us of our leave that I was getting too burned out to keep it up. Don't feel bad, Flower Girl."

Lily smiled sadly at the use of his old nickname for her, the one he'd started using when she'd been a little exacting about the flowers for their wedding. "I'll try to relax and enjoy it. But give me your word on this—December 26th, we're back on the job."

James nodded solemnly and kissed her again. "You have my word."

Once inside, James set up the tree with ease. A small ceiling extension was needed to make it fit without squashing it, but as James insisted, "A temporary bump in the roof never did anyone any harm."

"It's a lot easier to put up a tree with magic," Lily mused. "I seem to remember it always being horribly stressful to get it in the holder, if we even had a real tree. We stopped having them a while ago." She inhaled the sharp scent of the fir until she saw James looking at her, amused. "I am _not _getting into Christmas," she protested. "Just enjoying the smell."

He nodded with a wide-eyed look of overly sincere belief. "Mhm."

"James Potter, I'm going to hit you with a damn holly bush."

He laughed. "I'd like to see you try without holly. Or mistletoe. That's next."

Lily smiled ruefully. "Fine. Let's do it."

There was a Christmas market set up in the square, with tables of vendors selling food and greenery. Lily wondered at how many there were. "Don't you people just want to make everything out of thin air?"

James shook his head. "For one thing, you can't make food. One of the exceptions to Gamp's Law, remember? Oh right, I forgot, you're a Charms girl."

Lily smacked him gently. "I'll have you know I'm an effective, skilled, highly-trained Auror now. I know the shit about Gamp's Law. I just thought—you could do a lot of this by magic."

"Not exactly. The decorations don't smell quite right, and there are cakes and biscuits here the likes of which you've never tasted. _I _certainly couldn't conjure something like that."

"Oh, a Christmas traditionalist," Lily teased.

"Yep. Guess I am. Let's buy food."

By the time they were done, they had a basket of Dundee cakes, trifles, and Christmas biscuits. James carried a large bundle of greenery, with a huge wreath hung over his shoulder, and shortly they set to decorating the house.

There were, unbeknownst to Lily, several boxes of decorations passed down from James' pureblood family, which he unpacked with a wave of his wand. These included candles that burned unusually bright and lasted practically forever, candleholders with shifting patterns engraved in the metal, and tree ornaments covered in magical runes for prosperity and protection. He carefully set candles in the windows, lining the sills with greenery, and hung the wreath on the front door.

Lily stood and watched in amazement as he lined the stairs to the small second floor with shimmering golden strands cascading from the end of his wand. He gestured to the Christmas tree and it was wreathed in golden garlands, and one by one he floated the candles to their places in the branches and lit them. In the magical boxes also were bird ornaments that sang quiet, beautiful music and occasionally fluttered their wings.

Upon some coaxing from James, Lily hung a few of her family's ornaments on the tree as well, old glass balls and icicles. She stood back and looked at it, leaning into him as he wrapped his arms around her. "It's beautiful, James."

He tightened the hug for a moment in answer, briefly resting his hands on her stomach, and then ran his fingers through her hair. "Wait until you open your presents."


End file.
